The Ravenclaw table exploded with cheers, as Victoire stood staring blankly out into the sea of faces. Her eyes sought out Teddy, who's mouth was completely agape, his eyes staring blankly back at hers.
"Ms. Weasley, you may join your house now." Professor Nottwood murmured in her ear, and she pulled herself out of her immediate shock enough to seat herself down beside Ginger and Liam Stebbins at the Ravenclaw table. Several of the students clapped her on the back and offered words of encouragement but she felt nothing, only hollowness at the knowledge that she would never, ever, be a Gryffindor.
After the final sorting only a moment later, the table was soon flooded with food, and Victoire only stirred because she was so hungry. Tucking in to chicken and peas, mashed potatoes and gravy and a full glass of pumpkin juice, she had time to realize just how alone she was. Over at the Gryffindor table Marcy and Lucinda were laughing with other students, and even Teddy was slowly loosing that look of confusion as he ate.
"Cheer up, Vicki, Ravenclaw's a great house!" Ginger said happily, the occasional speck of food flying from her mouth as she spoke.
"Don't call me Vicki." she replied quietly, as those around her continued to enjoy the day that Victoire had thought would be her happiest.
As the hour passed and the students of Hogwarts ate their fill, the tables finally started to clear and it was announced that the prefects would lead the first years to their new dormitories.
Victoire trailed behind the group, Liam Stebbins checking back occasionally to see if she was in tow although she hadn't spoken a work to him before. They reached the moving staircases and she did have to let in a moment of awe as she "Ooohed" at the castle's magic along with the other first years. Following them up, up and up they climbed floor after floor going to, Victoire guessed, Ravenclaw tower. But they didn't go all the way up. Instead the prefect leading them, a tall black girl named Tara Roberts, took a swift right and led the group down a small, almost hidden passage way to a tightly winding spiral staircase. As Victoire looked up, she saw it went up for quite some time and heaving a sigh, she followed the group.
Finally at the top of the stairs, the students gathered tightly together on a small platform before a tall door with neither handle nor keyhole. Instead there was a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle. The first years stared at it quizzically until Tara stepped forward and the eagle opened it's mouth. In a melodious tone, the eagle spoke:
No legs I have to dance
No lungs I have to breathe
No life I have to live or die
Yet I do all three
What am I?
"Fire." Tara Roberts answered respectfully.
"Well done." spoke the knocker, as the door clicked and swung open for the students. She turned round to the first years and explained; "To enter the Ravenclaw common room, you have to answer a riddle. If you get it wrong, you have to wait until someone else comes along to answer it correctly. Follow me..."
Tara stepped into the common room, and even thought Victoire had been dreaming of Gryffindor for so long, she couldn't help but gasp.
The circular room, not unlike other common rooms she imagined, was decorated with blue and bronze silk wall hanging all around. The carpet was a deep rich blue with a occasional star embroidered on it and stretched across the wide room. But what really had Victoire stunned by the beauty of the room was the tall domed ceiling with it's intricate painting of the stars spread out over it. Across from the door the walls were lined with graceful arched windows that provided an astounding look of the mountains. The room was full of small second levels and there were bookcases, tables and large blue armchairs as well as love seats everywhere. A roaring fire was off to one side in a great stone hearth, and the common room was slowly filling with the other students heading off to bed through an archway that sat beside a large statue of Rowena Ravenclaw across from the entrance.
Victoire followed Ginger through the arch and up another smaller spiral staircase to their new dormitory, where there were five beds in total in the spherical room, each with a window on either side. The three other girls were already settling into the four poster beds where their trunks were located. Victoire spotted hers to her right, one of the ones closest to the door. At least she had a window she wouldn't have to share with anyone. She noticed that the trunks had been put in alphabetical order around the room and that her bed was beside Ginger's. The bed directly across from the door was occupied by a soft haired brunette Victoire briefly recognized as Regina Sparks from the sorting, but the other two beds to the left had girls Victoire didn't recognize.
She didn't have to wait long for introductions though, because the girl who's bed was opposite Victoire's sprang up from her bed and crossed the room, shoulders back, hand extended and walked right up to Victoire.
"Melanie Atkinson." she said, as Victoire shook her hand, the girl's honey blonde hair bouncing from the impact of her steps. "This is my cousin, Jolene." she said, nodding to the final girl, brown eyed with black hair, who nodded to the other girls in the room.
"I don't know about all of you, but I think this year is going to be phenomenal." Melanie said rather loudly, as the other girls exchanged started expressions. "I can't wait for our times tables tomorrow, I really can't. But I think we'd all better get some rest now, so goodnight."
A bit put off by this strange introduction, Melanie Atkinson climbed into bed, blowing out the candle on her night table and leaving the other girls to do the same.
Victoire waited until she knew all the other girls were asleep before she wrote her letter.
Her hand shook as she did, her neat scrawl becoming slightly sloppy with the movements. She had two letters to write. One to her family, and a second to Teddy. She hadn't a clue what to write to either of them, but when she started with the one to her parents her feelings came gushing out:
Dear Maman and Daddy,
You wanted me to write to talk about my first day at Hogwarts. But the truth is, I don't know if I can manage to write anything tonight. Nothing went as planned, and now I think Teddy's furious at me. He must be, he had been so excited, almost as much as I had been. But everything has changed. Daddy, I'm so sorry. I was sorted into Ravenclaw! I let down the whole family, I'm the first Weasley not to be in Gryffindor, and I'm so sorry. I wanted it, but I guess wanting it wasn't enough.
Maman, je me sans si terrible, presque malade! J'espere que tu n'est pas fache avec moi, j'espere que tu vais toujours m'aimer.
All my love,
Victoire
Her hands shook as she sealed the envelope and started the letter to Teddy.
Teddy,
I don't know what to say to you, as I can't help but feel that I've let you down. I know we had a lot of plans for this year, and others, but I guess they just won't happen. I'm so sorry. Please don't be mad at me. I guess I just wasn't right to be a Gryffindor after all.
Hopefully still your friend,
Victoire
Sealing both the envelopes, she performed a quick spell she'd learnt before arriving that would call an owl from the owlery.
"Hibou Mortimus" she whispered, her wand pointed out the window. In a moment Vesper appeared, and she tied her letters onto his extended leg.
"Take the second one to Teddy and then go straight to Maman and Dad." she told him, and he nipped her finger affectionately before soaring out into the night sky.
Loosing all feeling of hope, she fell into her bed, exhausted.
She was just drifting off into sleep when she heard a tap at the window. Rolling over and opening her eyes a crack, she caught sight of Jinx, Teddy's owl. In a flurry, she nearly fell out of bed on her way to opening the window.
Jinx fluttered in with a small note clutched in her beak, and dropped in in front of her so Victoire could pick it up and read it:
Toire,
How could you think I'd be mad at you? I will never be mad at you for something I know wasn't your fault. A Ravenclaw is just who you are, I guess, and I could never hate someone for being themselves. Come to the Gryffindor common room tomorrow at five tomorrow and we'll catch up. It's behind the portrait of the fat lady in pink on the seventh floor. The password is "Juniper".
Teddy
P.S. Of course I'm still your friend, how could you even think that! I'll see you tomorrow.
Victoire felt a surge of relief as she read that Teddy still liked her. And that she'd go see him tomorrow! Suddenly wrapped in a feeling of calm, she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
So how was that? A bit short, I know. I'm going camping this weekend, so I won't have the next chapter up until Monday at least, but I'll be plotting it out!
Cheers,
Cal